VANCOUVER ISLAND WINDTALK

other than the cool name, why do you like the playmates so much?

Hi Tony,

I have used Naish, HPL, Chinooks and Playmate booms. The HSM Playmate just feels right when you rig it. I currently have one now and feels great with a 5.0. Solid for an aluminum boom and I just really like the shape so I wanted another one for my 4.5. I talked to Jeff at HSM this week and HSM is discontinuing the Playmates. (due to lost production capability)...so Bart is shipping me a used one from the shop (in good shape he says) for $125.

I agree with some of the other posters, i'm 180lbs similar experience, and have a 77 fanatic freewave and a 92 jp. I could replace them both with a 86 litre freewave and sail in almost every condition. Changing fin size for windier conditions can make a big difference. It is nice having a small board for those 30-40 knot days, but i have sailed my 92 litre in 35 knots on a 4.0 and actually appreciated the extra float. Spend the money on a 2 wk trip to maui and learn to wave sail in a nice warm climate. Have fun!

If we are at the beach in Oregon at the same time, and you are finding it too windy for the Freewave, you are welcome to use my 77L. If the wind is >28 knots (as it often is in OR) I'll be on my 67L, and the 77L will be sitting on the beach, longing to play in the waves (it is Winddoc's old custom Quatro 7'6" 77L - very turny - it LOVES waves).

duckbill wrote:I agree with some of the other posters, i'm 180lbs similar experience, and have a 77 fanatic freewave and a 92 jp. I could replace them both with a 86 litre freewave and sail in almost every condition. Changing fin size for windier conditions can make a big difference. It is nice having a small board for those 30-40 knot days, but i have sailed my 92 litre in 35 knots on a 4.0 and actually appreciated the extra float. Spend the money on a 2 wk trip to maui and learn to wave sail in a nice warm climate. Have fun!

duckbill -- I have sailed the 86 in a nukin' 4.0 day at Nitinat and the board was the least of my worries.

Just waiting on my wave sailing DVD to come in. I have also bought a 21.5 cm wave fine for the 86 to go with my larger wave fin.

The $2,000 is now safely buried (though am looking at selling 2 of my surf longboards ....redundant if you have a Surf SUP....and buying another larger surfing/all around SUP but that is another thread)

Anyway, a question re. the FreeWave 86 footstrap set-up:

I currently have the 2 front footstraps set inboard with a single back strap.

There are 4 holes on Fanatics for foostraps placement options. I am using the front most holes for the 2 front footstraps and the holes 1 back from front for the single back strap. Feels OK in high winds.

Should I play around with which holes to use....or are there general rules for wavesailing?

And for wave sailing....I think I want the footstraps a bit looser than I would have for blasting around at Nitinat?

Thanks!

Keith

Hi Keith,

For waves or manoeuvre oriented sailing, you generally want a wider stance or spread between front and rear straps. For blasting back and forth, a narrower spread will feel better, but this stance will "handcuff" you when it comes time to turn/carve/slash/jump. The trend, even for shorter riders, is to place the front strap all the way forward and rear strap as far back as possible without creating an awkward feeling. For example, a sailor like Francisco Goya, who is far from a giant, has his boards set up with the straps set max distance apart for waves. This may feel weird at first, but after a few sessions it will feel fine. More than anything it comes to personal preference of course. I know that along with longer harness lines, I've gone to a wider spread for my straps (max). When I try someone else's board it feels like I'm about to be pitched if they have a narrower spread.

Strap size for manoeuvres should be BIG. Enough to see all of your toes fully. This also will feel weird until you get used to it. It'll force you to use your arches and foot muscles more to stay in the straps, but you'll be much closer to the center line of the board for quick response.

Try to see how far you can push the 21.5 cm fin into lighter winds (up to 5.3). It'll teach you to be more sensitive to the fin and board trim as well as letting you keep the carving and responsiveness of your Fanatic to a higher level than a bigger freeride fin. Planing will suffer a bit until you learn to finesse a smaller fin. You'll likely find the big fin will feel too stiff except for the very light winds or heavy tide days. I sail a 22 cm fin in my 95 L Goya for 5.6-4.7 and it works really well, though I suffer a bit in pointing. The stock 26 cm fin gets used for early planing/pointing/top speed (jumping)/lighter air.

My two bits!

The new Goya quad looks like a near carbon copy of the Quatro with a different tail and slightly more subtle graphics. On the Windance blog they show a straight edge on the board and the concave and V seems very much like the quatro. Better price too.

http://www.windance.com/custom-quad-wav ... -9605.html

Hey Tony,

Quit tempting me!

By the way.....wife is trying to buy a new front window for the house with my $2k!

Tell her Tuct tape and 5mil Poly is a much cheaper fix, arguably more attractive too, almost like stained glass if you get creative with the tape.

Hey nanmoo,

Was talking to Windance today.....they are already sold out of some sizes of the Goya Quad. And Goya is sold out of Quads too so no more Goyas for this year.

Must be a lot of people out there buying Quads!

Just taught my last week at UFV and am off for summer starting in May after exams.....I am tempted with the CDN$ so strong to drive down to Oregon and load up on cheap wine and a new Quad.

Did I mention to you islanders that Hood River is only 590km from the 'Wack......approx. 5.5 hours from my house (the same time it takes me to get to Nitinat incidentally).

Question....85L or 92L Quad for a newbie wave sailor (175 lbs).....they say you can sail Quads 5L or so bigger than a regular board.

I also just read that these things can turn/sail in very shallow water....which would be key in the onshore at Tribune Bay, Hornby Island.

Shallower water because the fins are much shorter than a single fin, you can also keep them a bit flatter through a turn too I think.

You should hold off for a couple months for the wavesailing trip before heading to Oregon to buy the board. Might as well use it in the correct conditions, and I think once you sail the coast you will find everything else just... well... you'll see...

85L or 92L - negligible difference in my opinion. Having sailed my board in 85L and 95L sizes I can't say there is too much of a difference. Hull design on the Quatro is identical, and thus they plane up just about the same. We aren't likely to do any wavesailing around here in 6.0 conditions, so I don't really see the need for the extra volume unless you are heavier than I am (@ 185 lbs) which is why for Kus the 95L probably makes more sense.

nanmoo wrote:Shallower water because the fins are much shorter than a single fin.

Hey nanmoo.........so you are saying that the longer single fins would hit the sand before the shorter quad fins. That is unreal?! I don't think I could have figured that out on my own.

I was actually just making the short fin = shallow water as an observation from a review I read....and another reason to support me owning a Quad as often at Hornby with the direct onshore wind I am sailing in approx. 8 - 10" of flat incoming foam over the sandy bottom at Trib. Every inch not burying in the sand would count when trying to get planing to beat upwind and out.

I pretty much flip-flop on the Quad once per week. First off....I realize I don't sail waves enough, but then think that you only live once so just get one!

I should probably get an 85L (175 lbs) but would like the extra float while learning to wave sail which is why I was thinking 90 - 95L Quad size or so.

PS - sold one surfboard so likely making a Gorge trip in May to look at SUPs/Quads and again in early June, and then maybe Coast in later June so we'll see.

Keith,

I finally got the chance to try Kus' 95l Quatro quad. My limited sense of the board in Gordon's non-wavey conditions with a 4.7:

Pros: Jumps onto a plane very quickly for me at 200 pounds and rips upwind with its flatter rocker. Has no strange feel at all; if anything it is really a pretty smooth and settled board (likely why Kus can sail the thing when most guys are looking for their 3.7s and 75 l boards). Cons: Not fast (not very slow either), but you'd still want a 95 single fin FSW possibly for getting speed for jumping chop and burning around Nitinat. I was most surprised by a couple of things: 1. It felt stiffer in foot steering than I expected compared to a twin or even a looser single fin on flat water. 2., It needs a certain kind of input to slash a turn, or you just trip over the rail. If you give it the input it wants, it rewards you with excellent (amazing) grip. It feels like it has a pretty wide, powerful tail. Doing a hard, heelside turn, like you would on a cutback, is unreal for a 95 L board; better than most smaller boards. I suspect that this is where the magic is.

It is a very easy board to sail; not too radical or punishing at all, but I'm betting it is a monster for real waves or big, gorge type swell. I'd love to try the 85 too, but on a real wave. I'd like them even more if they made them more lively and skatey, but I think that's more the domain of a twin. Hard to have it all, but a convertible quad-twin seems pretty sweet.

KC7777 wrote:Did I mention to you islanders that Hood River is only 590km from the 'Wack......approx. 5.5 hours from my house

that's some record time, living in Mission which arguably is closer it still took me 7hrs dood You must not count the border line up or speed like there's no cops in Washington State.....however it is about 5.5 hrs from Port Angeles to HR after sleeping merrily or shopping duty free while on the ferry across

Goya, Quatro, pretty much same board and shaper they order a finite number at the beginning of the season, secondary shipments of smaller number are more expensive, that might explain it....the underestimate of sales by Windance. I don't think the quad will excel in smaller waves and chop or make a difference in Tribune Bay where the water may be 4" shallower for the fin clearance

winddoctor wrote:surprised by a couple of things: 1. It felt stiffer in foot steering than I expected compared to a twin or even a looser single fin on flat water. ......I'd love to try the 85 too, but on a real wave. I'd like them even more if they made them more lively and skatey, but I think that's more the domain of a twin.

I'd be willing to bet smaller fins is the answer to that one and I plan to ride my 95 with the 85 fins when I pick it up in a few weeks

My $0.02 about quads - was in Maui last week and they're certainly all the rage there. Tried out an RRD 83L quad at Kanaha. I'm pretty sure I could have fun riding a door at lower's so my review might be tinted with rose coloured glasses, but I loved it. Most conspicuous thing for me was the 'drive'. Prior to riding the quad I never understood what surfers were referring to when they used that term, but in dtl conditions the board seems to generate speed with each turn in a way that's appreciably different than a single or twin. Other than that it felt pretty normal. Not particularly slow reaching in flatwater, surprised that I actually still could spin out if you push hard sideways after landing a jump. In short, a distinct advantage in proper waves, minimal penalty in flat water.